Just got back a short trip (one week) to see my daughter graduate from H.S. in Victoria, BC and my husband, Tony, and I took advantage of the time to take a 3-day holiday 'up island' on the western side of Vancouver Island - near Tofino. We stayed in an absolutely lovely place, right on the ocean, called Middle Beach Lodge (http://www.middlebeach.com/). The rooms are rather small but they have some wonderfully comfy lounge areas (with great views of the ocean)and you can't beat the location. We went to have an after-dinner coffee in a 5-star hotel nearby (The Wikinninish Inn) just to see if we were missing anything, and decided we liked our place better (altho - have to admit we didn't see a room) and the rates were about 1/3!

It's a picturesque 5 hour drive up there from Victoria and the area of and around Pacific Rim National Park is beautiful. The beaches are truly spectacular (and clean - a contrast from ours in HK!) and there are some great walks through the rainforest. We didn't take advantage of one of the many whale-watching or fishing trips available but - there are many to choose from.

Cheers! Judy in Hong Kong